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The New York Times reported that Manning, who is at an all-male military prison, wakes up at 4.30am before the "first call" to put on her make-up and female prison underwear before her male inmates get up.

Answering questions submitted by the paper, Manning spoke of her days in prison and said: "I am always busy. I have a backlog of things to do: legal, administrative, press inquiries, and writing — lots of writing.

"Being me is a full-time job."

She was convicted under her previous name, Bradley Manning (Image: Patrick Semansky)

She added: “It’s best to keep to yourself and try not to get involved in any drama.

“It’s a little harder for me to keep to myself, since the staff is constantly watching me and those that interact with me. But I’m used to it by now. I don’t feel threatened by the other prisoners. I have friends.”

Manning has no access to the internet but receives “at least a couple hundred pieces of mail every week.”

In prison, she has speech therapy to make her voice sound more feminine and she has been taking prescribed cross-sex hormone therapy.

She said: "There have been significant changes since I’ve been taking the hormones, and I am happy with them."

But Manning has not been allowed to grow her hair longer than male military standards.

Manning sent a statement to Mr Obama asking him to reduce her sentence.

She wrote: “I need help. I am living through a cycle of anxiety, anger, hopelessness, loss, and depression. I cannot focus. I cannot sleep. I attempted to take my own life.”

During her trial, evidence reportedly showed Manning had been in a "mental and emotional crisis" as she dealt with having gender dysphoria, while being in a war zone.

The paper reported that in the months before her arrest she had emailed a photo of herself to her supervisor, wearing a woman's wig.

Manning's cell is said to contain a bed, toilet, sink, locker, storage bin, chair and desk and she showers in a communal bathroom with individual stalls.

She also works at the prison wood shop.

She isn't allowed to see anyone who did not know her before she was sentenced.

The New York Times described how she was disciplined in September for a July suicide attempt which caused disruption.

The punishment was isolation and while confined by herself in October she again tried to kill herself by choking herself on a piece of clothing before guards intervened.

A week later, she experienced a hallucination in which she believed four people impersonating guards were trying to break into her prison and kill her regular guards.

Who is Chelsea Manning?

Chelsea Manning was convicted under her previous name, Bradley Manning. It was shortly after her conviction that she announced she would start living as a woman.

Chelsea Manning will be free on May 17

She was approved for hormone therapy after being diagnosed with gender dysphoria - the sense of one’s gender being at odds with the sex assigned at birth.

Manning attended Tasker Milward school in Pembrokeshire for four years.

She was an intelligence analyst in Iraq at the time of her arrest in 2010.

Why is she in prison?

Manning was arrested in 2010 and convicted in military court in 2013.

She was convicted of leaking more than 700,000 secret military and State Department documents. This included leaking reams of war logs, diplomatic cables and battlefield video to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.

She was sentenced for 35 years at an all-male military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

What happened during her prison sentence?

Since she was sentenced in 2013 it has been reported that Manning went on a hunger strike and attempted suicide.

In July last year Manning's lawyers confirmed she tried to kill herself in prison.

Her lawyers accused the US military of violating her privacy by revealing that she had been admitted to hospital.

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But she ended the hunger strike after the Army agreed to allow her to receive medical treatment for her gender dysphoria.

In 2014 Chelsea Manning's aunt, Sharon Staples, from Haverfordwest , said: “What really hurt me was the treatment Chelsea received in Quantico two years before the trial: stripped naked, kept in solitary confinement, made to stand in a corner, everything taken away.”

It was reported that Ms Manning was locked up for up to 23 hours a day over a period of 11 months during solitary confinement.

Why has her sentence been cut?

Chelsea Manning's 35-year sentence has been cut after she was commuted by President Barack Obama.

President Barack Obama (Image: AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

She will now be free on May 17.

This comes after President Obama decided to offer a last batch of pardons and commutations before leaving office at the end of this week.

A presidential pardon means the leader of a country has the right to pardon people for crimes, allowing their prison sentence to be cut.

Bill Clinton sparked major controversy in his final days as president when he pardoned fugitive financier Marc Rich, the ex-husband of a major Democratic fundraiser.

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How her family and supporters have reacted

Chelsea Manning's family said on Wednesday: "We are all overjoyed that Chelsea will soon be free.

"Chelsea exposed wrongdoing and was punished for being a whistleblower. We regret that it has taken so long for President Obama to commute the sentence and are outraged that Chelsea has been forced to endure such abusive treatment in prison.

"We agree with the UN Special Rapporteur Juan Mendez that some of this abuse amounted to torture.

"We sincerely hope that Chelsea will now be able to get on with the rest of her life and that she finds happiness and fulfilment in whatever she chooses to do.

"There will always be a welcome for her here in Wales."

Stephen Crabb MP for Pembrokeshire, said on Twitter: "An act of mercy and compassion in the closing days of the Obama presidency. Manning's family & friends in my constituency will welcome this."

Kate Hudson, from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said: "Chelsea Manning is a heroine and a truth teller of our times, and I'm absolutely thrilled to hear that she will be freed from prison.

"Because of her bravery we obtained yet more evidence of the horrors conducted in our name under the guise of the War on Terror.

"After her arrest a solidarity movement grew around the world to demand her release. I'm delighted that that day will soon be upon us."